"So it is of great urgency that we get some plans on the board. It generally takes a minimum of 18 months to design, get approved and get out of the ground to completion, a new school. Sometimes two years. So I kind of feel like we're already behind."

Miller agrees the city needs a new elementary school and is investigating how to pay for it.

"We really don't have a choice," Miller said today. "We can either build a school or rent trailers."

The superintendent said one possibility is the city and the school board working together on a bond issue.

The system has already made one key change to accommodate growth, moving fifth-graders from the elementary school to the middle school.

"I was hoping we would buy about three years of growing room, but we didn't," Moore said of that change.

Leeds Elementary has grades K-4, Leeds Middle School has grades 5-8, and Leeds High School has grades 9-12.

If a new school is built, it would likely be for K-2, Moore said. The existing elementary school would change to grades 3-5, the middle school would handle grades 6-8, and the high school would remain 9-12.

Moore said he believed there were several reasons for the growth spurt.

The city has seen a dramatic upgrade in school facilities, making Leeds' parents more likely to send their children to the schools, Moore said. Leeds High School and Leeds Middle School both opened in new buildings in 2009. The elementary school has been renovated in four phases, the last completed in December 2010.

The city has seen a surge in commercial growth with the opening of Bass Pro Shops in 2008 and the Outlet Shops of Grand River in 2010, both near exit 140 on Interstate 20.

Another factor is the success of Leeds High School's athletic programs, Moore said. Leeds has won a pair of state football championships, as well as state championships in boys basketball and in softball in the last few years.

"Leeds has experienced kind of a rebirth," Moore said. "I think for a period of time there our schools were in decline. Our facilities were certainly in bad shape, and our school enrollment had dropped for a period of years.

"This is our 10th year in operation as a city school system. And I think we've brought back a sense of pride, a hometown feeling."

Leeds Elementary School Principal Andrew Briskey said the rising enrollment, especially in kindergarten and first grade, has made it harder to maintain optimal class sizes.

Briskey said kindergarten and first-grade classes should ideally have no more than about 18 students, but now have about 20 or 21. Third and fourth grade classes would ideally be about 21 or 22 students, but are closer to 25 or 26, Briskey said.

The mayor expects the growth to continue. He said the developers of Grand River plan to build a new residential area along Rex Lake Road. The city is working on changes to the zoning ordinance that will allow that to happen.

That would bring more residents and more students. It would also make the area more attractive for stores and restaurants and additional development that would increase tax revenues, Miller said.

"The growth is not going away, and we don't want it to go away," Miller said. "We just want to plan for it. The I-20 corridor on the eastern side of Jefferson County is obviously the next hot growth spot in Jefferson County. We're not going to put our heads in the sand. We're going to plan it and guide it."